Forex: USD/JPY rallies to 80.68 high on US NFP

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The surprising jump of employment in October indicated by the nonfarm payrolls report triggered "risk-on" reaction all over the financial markets. Held by intraday support at 80.20 during the day, the USDJPY jumped past the October-25 high, at 80.25, and extended gains to 80.68 high, a little above the June high.

The nonfarm payroll report for October surprised the market and analysts by jumping to 171K in October, beating the consensus of a rise from 114K to 125K. The unemployment rate rose from 7.8% to 7.9% as expected by analysts. Average weekly hours were revised lower from 34.5 to 34.4 in September and remained at that figure in October, despite consensus of 34.5. The average hourly earnings didn't change on the month, instead of rising +0.2%, still lower than the previous rise of +0.3%.

"USDJPY continues to look pretty bid intraday and we suspect a renewed attempt on 80.63/66 will be seen - this represents the June high and the 50% retracement, this is tough overhead resistance and we would expect this to provoke some profit taking", wrote Commerzbank analyst Karen Jones, pointing to support at 79.25/10.